Blog

Mar

28

5 Reasons People Don’t Like Real Estate Agents

Reason 1

Negative past experiences – Most people are coming to us from a negative past experienced. When I say most, I mean upwards of 60% of our clients. Most of these experiences could have been avoided by simply interviewing more than one agent OR by NOT using the family friend or relative that carries a license, but isn’t a full time professional.

Reason 2

You can throw a rock in most states and hit a persona with a real estate license. – It’s true, the governing bodies of Real Estate make a great deal of money convincing future license holders that real estate is easy money. They throw them into rooms at the local real estate school, collect their money, and spit them out the other side. There is a lot of profit in the licensing process alone. This doesn’t bode well for the industry as a whole. None are qualified to represent a client the purchase or sale of the largest asset they will every own by the time they are finished. Not even close for that matter.

Reason 3

They think (and quite falsely) that agents are all rich and make too much money. – I still find it interesting that people think agents are all rich. The propaganda involved in this message is seriously intriguing. So much so, that you could write a book on it and still not thoroughly cover the details or even solve the problem. Ask anyone that’s tried to make it full time in this industry and if their honest with you, you’ll find that it’s really difficult to make it full time. You wouldn’t know that from social media though. Everyone puts their best foot forward. I know agents up to their eyeballs in debt and struggling to make ends meet, but if you saw their social media you’d think they were rich! We did an interesting study of one of the top brokerages in Arizona. That study revealed: Of the agents that made at least $1 (meaning agents that sold at least 1 home, NOT counting agents that didn’t sell any – which is a lot) 67.5% of those agents made between $1 and $37,000/year. ONLY 8% of agents made over $200,000. Almost every agent in the top 8% had a team or staff and had considerable overhead expenses that reduced their net income well below their GCI (gross commission income). In many cases they profit between 35-45% of their GCI. Most people won’t want to believe this but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Reason 4

Clients try to dictate the process instead of hiring a professional and following a professional process built with quality control, client satisfaction, effective negotiation, and solid expectations. – It’s the old “I don’t need an agent” mentality. Your right, you don’t need one of these licensed people out there. You will benefit greatly from a professional though. It’s not a bad thing, it’s human nature but 70% of the people I interact with think they know about real estate than I do. TV shows, internet, etc mislead the consumers into actually believing this. Lots of moving parts here, but this is deteriorating the industry. Real Estate governing bodies should hold license holders more accountable to upholding a standard of professionalism and create a more transparent expectations process for all involved. Unfortunately it won’t happen, there is no profit in it for them. Technology will find a way to penetrate this issue long before any systematic changes happen. When that happens, it will disrupt this systemic issue and the free market will create a better product. Just a matter of time.

Reason 5

Lack of communication and transparency. – Well, this applies to pretty much everything in our lives and it’s no different here. Clear, honest, and transparent communication between all parties could eliminate 80% of the problems in real estate transactions. The client must hold the agent accountable while also being held accountable themselves by the agent to do their part. Then you have Lenders, Title Companies, and other 3rd party vendors that must also uphold their professional standards. If one breaks down, it can have a domino effect. Having a clear understanding of all that can go wrong in a transaction is important as well. Many things are out of of your control and out of the agents control. A good agent will educate and prepare clients for the challenges that they could face. The problem then becomes: does the client accept this as reality. Most don’t pay attention until something happens. Then they look to place blame as quickly as possible, when in reality, this was one of the things that could happen, and in this case – it happened. Move forward and find solutions. I realize the vagueness of this previous statement, but the examples are abundant. Be sure to talk to your agent about the challenges you could face along the way and mentally prepare for them.

If you’re interested in learning more about working in a professional environment to buy or sell your home. Please visit the informational section of our website. We believe in earning the trust and confidence of our communities through providing great people with a pressure free environment to do their due diligence without obligation. We’re here to help. Feel free to call or fill out a contact me form and we’d be happy to be a resource for you.